The present invention is for an improved plastic-bonded explosive composition which can be extruded as well as molded.
The major components of the old plastic-bonded explosives were nylon and trinitrotrimethylenetriamine (RDX) or nylon and cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine (HMX) with a powdered metal such as aluminum added where increased blast was required. Some later improved plastic-bonded explosives have been developed and used wherein the major components are RDX and HMX and the copolymer of vinylidene fluoride and hexafluoropropylene (Viton) or vinylidene fluoride and chlorotrifluoroethylene (Kel-F elastomer) with a metal added. These later Viton or Kel-F bound high explosives are good high temperature explosives which can be molded or pressed, but are difficult to extrude and the strands which may be extruded are limited in their physical properties. For example, the tensile strength of a 1/4 inch diameter strand of a HMX-Kel-F formulation was at best 900 psi and it tended to be erratic probably due to several factors including agglomeration of the Kel-F binder. The present invention provides an improved plastic-bonded high explosive which can be extruded as well as molded into many sizes and shapes of strands or rods.